Verse 2: Be mindful ALWAYS of the word(I Chronicles 16.15), both of the prophets (O.T.) and apostles (N.T.). This is a good verse for memory work.

Verse 3: "Scoffers" (mockers or ridiculers of God's Word-verse 2). "Walking after their own lusts" seems to be another way of saying: "DOING THEIR OWN THING". So, this verse seems to indicate that in the last days (NOW), people would ridicule God's word, so that they could justify themselves as they went around DOING THEIR OWN THING.

Verse 4: They would say: "Where is the second coming of Jesus?" "How come it hasn't happened yet?" "Oh, they have been talking about that for 2000 years, don't you guys ever give up?" "If He is real, why doesn't he come and show Himself " (Isaiah 5.19)? And then they would say that the earth has always been the same since the first ancestors died (and therefore no one, experienced the FLOOD), and that nothing is ever going to happen to change things. Because present day processes are the same as at the "beginning of the creation" (this makes the creation itself no different than what is happening right now - Psalm 55.19. In other words, there was really no definite beginning. The assertion is that before creation had a chance to be completed, present day conditions were already existing - in other words, they were always here). This prophecy began to be fulfilled in 1840 with the introduction of the "uniformitarian geology" (discussed later in this chapter).

Verses 5 and 6: Then (with the "doctrine of uniformity" as their philosophy) they would be WILLINGLY IGNORANT (deceive themselves -I Corinthians 3:18-19) of two things;

That the heavens were CREATED by the WORD of the Lord (Psalm 33.6,9) with the appearance of age (animals, trees, etc. looked older than 1 day when first created (Genesis 2:4-5).

That the world before the flood had water on it, AND above it (Genesis 1.6-7): and this abundance of water was the means "whereby" it was flooded and destroyed (Genesis 7: 11-24). The people of today are "WILLINGLY IGNORANT" of these two basic facts, because these facts are unshakable testimony of the existence of a personal CREATOR (Genesis 1) who passes unescapable JUDGMENT (Genesis 7) on mankind for iniquity ("DOING YOUR OWN THING"). So they hide their head in their "modern" philosophies, like an ostrich.

Verse 7: But the Holy Spirit reminds them that just as the old world was destroyed (Genesis 7) at the promise of the Lord (Genesis 6:7,13,17), so these heavens and earth, which they now walk in, are reserved to I destroyed: BY THE SAME WORD! (II Peter, 3.10 Revelation 20.9,11). This destruction will take place on the same day as the Great white Throne Judgment, at the and of the 1000 year reign (REV 20.11). This stands as God's great threat to this rebellious world, and it is backed up by the FACT that HE has done it before. Two things testify to this fact: The Bible, and the surface of the earth. So the worldly "intellectuals" deny the inspiration of the Bible, and invent "uniformitarian geology" to explain the earth's surface which bears witness to the FLOOD.

Verses 8-10 are the answer to the mockers in verse 4. In verse 9 he explains that the long wait is so that all can have a chance to be saved (verse 15). It is not to be interpreted as a sign of God's slackness, by impatient mankind. Verse 10 tells us that the earth is to he burned up "IN the day of the Lord". We have just seen that that fire will take place at end of the 1000 years (verse 7 and Revelation 20). So putting these 2 facts together we find that the earth is to be burned up IN THE DAY OF THE LORD, AT the END of the 1000 years. So the "day of the Lord" must encompass the whole span of time from Armageddon to the White Throne Judgment. This time is the 1000 years of REV 20. So the "day of the Lord must be the 1000 year reign. And that is what verse 8 must refer to IN THIS CONTEXT, So the earth will be burned up "IN the DAY of the Lord " (verse 10), by being destroyed by fire at the end of the 1000 year reign (verse 8), at the same DAY the White Throne Judgment takes place (verse 7). Both heaven and earth will pass away at the end of the 1000 year reign (II Peter 3.10, Revelation 20.11), and they will be replaced by a "new heaven and new earth" (II Peter 3.13 Revelation 21.1). With such things coming according to the Word of God (Isaiah 65.17), Peter says we ought to get on the ball (2 Peter 3.10-14).

But the "intellectual" world has hid these FACTS OF LIFE from themselves by inventing the "theory of uniformitarianism". This theory is the basis of almost all "science" today and has permeated ALL fields of scientific theory ("ALL things"-v4). It states that the world has always been the same, and that all the phenomena of nature that we are now confronted with, came about through processes that are now in operation. In other words, all the events of the past could be explained in the light of processes at work in the present. This is especially prevalent in the "science" of geology, with its "geologic time table". This type of belief did not become popular until the 1840's and was pioneered by Smith, Lyell, and Hulton. Before that time THE FLOOD was an accepted part of scientific research and understanding. But around 1840 men began to reject The evidence before their eyes and under their feet and Peter's prophecy began to be fulfilled (#3, #4). Of course, the evidence against the theory is insurmountable: for instance, how do they account for the immense amount of vegetable material being buried in one place at one time that formed the coal mines? It is happening nowhere in the world today, and yet they say that present day processes account of all things that have happened in the past. Some scientists admit that coal could not have been formed by today's processes, but only by a great aqueous catastrophe (#5). (Continued in part II)

Disclaimer: This article is not and was never an official publication of the Family International. It's from a typewritten class given in the very early days of the Children of God. I scanned it and converted it into digital format using OCR software. I tried my best to proofread it, but there still may be errors.

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